In the early 2000s, William Tiu Lim, founder and chairman of Mega Sardines, was facing a serious business challenge. Despite solid marketing plans, the company’s inventory turnover was slow — too slow. Products were sitting on shelves longer than expected, and there was a real fear that supermarkets might start pulling them out.
“We observed that our inventory turnover was not fast enough, even with marketing plans in place,” Lim recalls. “I was hesitant at first to advertise because the budget was so huge that we would never make that kind of money.”
For a company trying to scale, spending big on advertising wasn’t just uncomfortable — it felt risky. But the bigger risk, Lim realized, was doing nothing at all.
“I thought we may lose more if we get delisted by supermarkets,” he says. “So even though it was painful, I just decided to gamble to save the day.”
That gamble turned into a turning point.
Lim pushed forward with a full-scale advertising campaign to increase brand visibility and consumer confidence. Within just three to six months, he started seeing the difference. “Our sales started to improve slowly,” he says. “In hindsight, without that investment, we would have never taken off.”
For Lim, the lesson became clear: You need to spend to build your brand name.
Branding, he explains, is not an expense — it’s an investment in trust. “People need to have confidence in your product,” he says. “And that only happens when they see your brand consistently.”
Today, Mega Sardines is a household name in the Philippines — not just because of its quality, but because of Lim’s willingness to bet on visibility when it mattered most.
The takeaway: Growth doesn’t always come from playing it safe. Sometimes, the smartest move is the scariest one — especially when the future of your brand is on the line.
This article includes quotes from an interview originally published by Esquire Philippines, authored by Henry Ong.
